The manual provides a guide to the pre-vocational curriculum for older adolescents and young adults with mental illness offered at Thresholds, a psychiatric rehabilitation center in Chicago. Noted is the common presence of additional handicaps in this population, such as poor reading ability. A psychoeducational clinical teaching approach is emphasized, addressing specific issues faced by persons with mental illness. Fourteen topics are covered, with objectives, an outline, correlated individual activities, activity sheets, and resource materials. Sample topics are as follows: understanding self-concept and how it affects job success; employability skills that have the greatest effect on starting and keeping a job; relating personal interests to career planning; setting career goals and making realistic job choices; learning how to get along with co-workers; job-seeking steps; the job interview; understanding the supervisor's job role and learning ways to interact appropriately; and the correct way to terminate a job. Contains 14 references. (DB)